Tag: Ladybirds

Afghanistan in the Hunt for Semi-final Slot

A look at today’s world cup match between Afghanistan and the Netherlands, and the affect that the result has on the battle for semi-final qualification. Also a very large photo gallery.

Today’s world cup match saw Afghanistan facing the Netherlands. This post looks back at that match and at the fight for a semi-final slot. I did not catch a single ball of yesterday’s game in which India obliterated Sri Lanka (another “we’ll have a bowl” disaster at this world cup – India put in to bat tallied 357 from their 50 overs and Sri Lanka sank to 55 all out in response).

THE PRELIMINARIES

Afghanistan opted to go with four front line spinners, relying on Fazalhaq Farooqi and Azmatullah Omarzai to bowl such seam as was required. The Netherlands won the toss and chose to bat first, clearly the correct decision on a turner. However, winning the toss and making the right decision are the first two steps of a three-step process, with the third step, playing good cricket, by far the most important…

A DUTCH COLLAPSE

The Netherlands started very well, but the dismissal of O’Dowd, run out for a rapid 42, put the skids under them. That dismissal made it 73-2, and Colin Ackermann and Sybrand Engelbrecht put on 19 together before Ackermann became the second run out victim of the innings. Scott Edwards was then given Run Out first ball to make it 92-4. This was unlucky for Afghanistan keeper Ikram Alikhil, who pulled off a superb piece of work behind the stumps and deserved by credited with a stumping, but apparently Edwards had made contact with the ball, which meant that officially it had to be called a run out. Five runs later Bas de Leede played a wild shot at Mohammad Nabi and succeeded only in edging to Ikram Alikhil to make it 97-5. Saqib Zulfiqar offered Engelbrecht some support, but after scoring a very slow 3 he edged one from Noor Ahmad into the safe gloves of Alikhil and it was 113-6. Logan van Beek stayed while a further 21 runs accrued, of which his share was 2, before he was stumped by Alikhil. Roelof van der Merwe helped the Netherlands past the 150 mark, but shortly thereafter caused the run out of the determined Engelbrecht for 58 (86), and it was 152-8. Roelof van der Merwe and Aryan Dutt devoted themselves almost solely to seeing out overs at this point. The first really aggressive shot by either, from van der Merwe resulted in a lobbed catch to Ibrahim Zadran off Noor Ahmad to make it 169-9. Dutt and Paul van Meekeren cobbled together another 10 for the last wicket before Mohammad Nabi trapped van Meekeren LBW. The Dutch number 11 reviewed it, but it was plumb and the Netherlands were all out for 179 in 46.3 overs. 38.3 of those overs had been bowled by spinners, an all time record for a men’s world cup match. Ikram Alikhil had had a hand in six of the wickets, the three officially credited to him, and three of the four run outs (one was a direct hit throw from Azmatullah Omarzai), and with the four run outs and one official stumping this was the first ever men’s world cup innings in which as many as five batters had been out through being out of their crease at the wrong time. The Netherlands had lost their last nine wickets for 106 runs, and their last eight for 87.

THE AFGHANISTAN CHASE

Can be summed up with one word: clinical. Although both openers were out cheaply Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi had a fine partnership for the third wicket, and then Azmatullah Omarzai joined Shahidi in the stand that saw Afghanistan over the winning line with 18.3 overs to spare. Rahmat Shah scored 52 (54), Omarzai 31* (28) and Shahidi 56* (64), a thoroughly professional display from the numbers three, four and five for Afghanistan. This puts Afghanistan firmly in the mix for a semi-final slot. If they can beat either Australia or South Africa, their last two opponents, that will probably be enough for them. New Zealand look the most vulnerable of those currently in qualifying slots – they have lost three in a row, while India and South Africa are both guaranteed to qualify, and Australia could only be dragged into the dogfight for the fourth slot if they somehow lose against bottom of the table England tomorrow.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Just before I terminate this post, two posts ago I included in my gallery two street names which each connected to two cricketers. The connections are as follows: Wyatt Street – current England T20I women’s opener Danni Wyatt and former England men’s captain Bob Wyatt, and Archdale Street – England women’s first ever captain, Betty Archdale, and former long serving Somerset wicket keeper the reverend Archdale Palmer Wickham.

Now for my usual sign off…

A pair of goldfinches
The moon in a clear morning sky (taken not long after 7:30 this morning)

Fourth Semi-Final Slot up for Grabs

A look back at the match between New Zealand and South Africa in the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup, and a brief look at the ramifications of the result for the tournament as a whole. Also a very large photo gallery.

Today’s match at the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup saw New Zealand face South Africa. This post looks back at the match and at the ramifications of today’s result.

THE PRELIMINARIES

New Zealand skipper Tom Latham won the toss, which was probably the last thing that went right for his side on the day. South Africa had batted first four times this tournament and never scored below 300 on any of those occasions, New Zealand are not a stellar chasing side. Yet, for some reason unknown to anyone other than himself Latham decided to put South Africa in to bat.

THE SOUTH AFRICA INNINGS

When Temba Bavuma was out fairly early, with just 38 runs on the board things weren’t looking all that bad for New Zealand. However, the second wicket stand between Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen illustrated precisely why putting the Proteas in is a poor idea. They got themselves in, and gradually increased the tempo as the danger of a sudden crash of wickets faded. After 35 overs the score was 194-1, and while some were criticising the SA second wicket pair for not having upped the rate enough by then, I tweeted at that point that they were well placed, and that a total of significantly above 300 looked more likely than not and that 350 couldn’t be ruled out. Quinton de Kock completed his fourth century of this world cup, joint second most for a single edition ever behind the five Rohit Sharma scored in 2019, and in the process became the first South African to score 500 runs in a single edition of the tournament, putting the all comers record, Sachin Tendulkar’s 673, in severe danger of being broken. Rassie van der Dussen opened out after a sedate start and moved his own rate to better than a run a ball, as he too completed a century. It was de Kock who was second out, ending a stand of exactly 200. David Miller came in at number four, and when van der Dussen was third out with only 17 balls left in the innings Heinrich Klaasen joined the fray. Miller was out to the second last ball of the innings for 53 (30) to make it 351-4, and Aiden Markram came out to face one ball, which he despatched for six giving South Africa a final score of 357-4. 163 of those came in the last 15 overs and 119 in the last ten as South Africa once again demonstrated their ability to butcher opposition attacks in the closing stages of an innings. They were helped by a hamstring injury to Matt Henry, but the heaviest blow to Kiwi hopes had happened at the toss with that awful decision by Latham.

My tweet at the 35 over mark (a reply to Lawrence Bailey):

https://x.com/aspitweets/status/1719672685507105159?s=20

THE NEW ZEALAND REPLY

New Zealand faced a daunting task, and it only got more daunting as the innings progressed. Wickets fell with remorseless regularity, run scoring was difficult at all times, and there was little prospect at any stage of a successful chase. New Zealand lost their ninth wicket at 133, still 224 runs adrift, and the injured Matt Henry came in to bat in a desperate effort to mitigate the hammering their net RR was taking. Some good blows from Glenn Phillips reduced the margin to below 200, but with the score at 170 he took one chance too many and offered up a straightforward catch, which ended the match with a margin of 184 runs. Keshav Maharaj claimed four wickets with his left arm spin, Marco Jansen three with his left arm pace, Gerald Coetzee two and Kagiso Rabada one, leaving Lungi Ngidi wicketless. Rassie van der Dussen was named Player of the Match for his 133. A full scorecard can be viewed here.

RAMIFICATIONS OF THIS RESULT

This is New Zealand’s third straight defeat, and opens the way for Afghanistan or Pakistan to displace them from the semi-finals. Afghanistan have played a game fewer than either New Zealand or Pakistan, and their next match is against the Netherlands, which they would regard as a major opportunity. Their other two group games are against South Africa and Australia, with the former requiring that they bat first and then bowl well in defence of whatever they manage to post, and the latter almost certainly against a side who will have guaranteed qualification by then and therefore probably easier than if they met them earlier in the tournament. Pakistan still have New Zealand to play, a huge game in the context of developments in the tournament so far, and their other remaining game is a more or less guaranteed two points against the demoralized, disorganized rabble masquerading as “England”.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England Execrable

A look back at today’s world cup match between England and India, a day of shame for the England cricket team, that saw them become the first team officially eliminated from the ODI world cup of 2023. Also a photo gallery.

Today at the cricket world cup saw hosts India take on England. When the schedule was devised this would have been envisaged as one of the marquee games of the tournament, pitting hosts against defending champions. Unfortunately by the time the day rolled around it looked more like a routine minnow bashing, with the hosts unbeaten and England in a complete and utter mess. This post looks at how the match panned out.

THE PRELIMINARIES

At 8:00AM today UK time (UK clocks went back one hour last night in preparation for winter – from BST to GMT) the toss took place. Jos Buttler won it and put India in to bat, when batting first looked obviously preferable. For all India’s tremendous successes chasing (unlike Buttler’s England they really are a great chasing side) Rohit Sharma confirmed that he would have chosen to bat had he won the toss. England were unchanged, more out of a desire to look like they weren’t in a state of blind panic (though we could all see that they were) than out of any confidence in the XI. India, much more justifiably, were also unchanged – I don’t see any further changes for them until Hardik Pandya is fit again. The issue with their current XI, missing Pandya’s all round skills as it is is that if you can get through the phalanx of six top line batters plus Jadeja’s all round skills they do have a very long tail.

THE INDIAN INNINGS

England bowled pretty well for once, and for much of the Indian innings it looked like two matches were happening at the same time – at one end Rohit Sharma handled all the England bowlers with complete authority, never really looking in any trouble, while at the other everyone looked vulnerable. The most surprising failure was Virat Kohli, who succumbed to frustration after eight scoreless deliveries, holing out going for big hit off his ninth ball – it was Kohli’s first ever duck in a world cup, be it ODI or T20I. First was Shubman Gill, playing a loose drive. Shreyas Iyer’s dismissal showed that he remains vulnerable against the short ball. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma shared a decent stand for the fourth wicket, though Rahul’s dismissal will probably give him recurring nightmares – it was an awful piece of batting. Suryakumar Yadav was Rohit Sharma’s next partner, and at one stage it looked like they might get India to a genuinely threatening total. Sharma finally succumbed for a masterly 87, and when Jadeja failed with the bat it was down to Yadav to shepherd the tail. He eventually managed 49, and a few good blows from Bumrah at the end got India to 229, a modest looking total, but exactly the same as that defended by the Netherlands yesterday, and on a pitch which had a bit of mischief in it.

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

England started well, and reached 30 without undue difficulty. Then Malan got himself out with a really poor shot, Root was out first ball, Stokes made a ten ball duck, playing not a single one of those ten deliveries remotely well and Bairstow dragged one into his own stumps, and suddenly it was 39-4. When Kuldeep Yadav produced a beauty to bowl Buttler (a rare wicket on the day that was purely down to good bowling) it was 52-5. Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone offered some resistance, but once their stand was broken the writing was firmly on the wall. England eventually clawed their way up to a beggarly 129 all out, meaning that the final margin was exactly 100 runs. India, with six wins out of six so far, are definitely in the semi-finals, and England, in last place with two points out of a possible 12 and an appalling net run rate, are eliminated. England’s preparation for this tournament varied between the non-existent and the slip-shod, and they have paid the price. There will need to be wholesale changes – a whole raft of players are now past their sell by dates, Buttler is a truly abysmal captain, and just like in 2015, again following an atrocious world cup campaign, a full rebuild is the only way for England.

PHOTOGRAPHS

As autumn deepens opportunities for photographs are becoming a little harder to find…

A poster sized version of this should be displayed prominently at ECB HQ to remind them of just what has become of a once great side in four short years.

World Cup Developments

A look at developments in the world cup since England disgraced themselves on Saturday. A decent match between India and new Zealand yesterday, and today’s match between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Also a photo gallery.

This post looks at what has happened in the 2023 ODI World Cup since England’s humiliation on Saturday.

INDIA v NEW ZEALAND

This was a match between the only two teams to still be unbeaten. I missed a lot of it because I had to go through the annual torture known as a check for signs of Glaucoma (there is family history which makes this a necessity), and that knocked out most of the morning, since the appointment was at 10AM. I also had a commitment in the afternoon which took out a chunk of play – the West Norfolk Autism Group had a bowling session booked at Strikes for 4:00.

India won the toss and put New Zealand in. With ten overs to go a total of 300 looked on the cards for NZ, but some excellent Indian death bowling restricted them to 273. I only witnessed the start and end of the Indian innings. They eventually won by four wickets with two overs to spare, Kohli scoring 96 and getting out just before the end.

AFGHANISTAN V PAKISTAN

Pakistan won the toss and quite correctly chose to bat first. Afghanistan’s spinners bowled well, but a late flurry from Ifitkhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan, and a bizarre decision to trust the very ordinary medium pacer Azmatullah Omarzai over Mujeeb Ur Rahman at the death allowed Pakistan to get to 283, a formidable total on a slow surface. The Afghanistan is just underway, and I will be missing a lot of it, but the key will be Rahmanullah Gurbaz – to get anywhere close Afghanistan will need him to produce a major innings. So far all is progressing nicely for them – 25-0 in the fourth over.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Yesterday was sunny, and the walk back from my appointment (this location is borderline in terms of distance from my home, so I usually get the bus there and walk back, as I did yesterday) gave the photo gallery a welcome boost…

The pictures from the walk back from my appointment start here.
And end here.
This is the time when being an early riser and having an east facing front window enables one to capture the dawn (three pics)

2023 ODI World Cup Latest

A look at recent developments in the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup, including two spectacular upsets – Afghanistan beating England and The Netherlands downing South Africa. Also two photo galleries.

There have been many developments in the tournament since my last blog post. This post looks at these developments.

AFGHANISTAN BEAT ENGLAND

In Sunday’s post I was anticipating a historic win for Afghanistan over England. That win duly materialised, with the final margin being 69 runs in Afghanistan’s favour – 284 vs 215. Afghanistan thoroughly deserved their win, and I was delighted that the Player of the Match award went to Mujeeb Ur Rahman for a very rapid 28 which gave the Afghanistan total a late boost and three good wickets, rather than Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 80 securing him the award which is what I had feared. This was obviously a great occasion for Afghanistan, but it was also a great occasion for the tournament as a whole – going into this match there had not been an upset of any sort, and this was a seismic one.

PHOTO GALLERY ONE

Having paid tribute to Afghanistan I break the post up a bit with this…

SRI LANKA V AUSTRALIA

Both of these teams had started with back to back losses, which meant that one of them would end the game firmly ensconced in the last chance saloon, almost certainly needing to win all six of their remaining games to qualify, while the other would still be in considerable jeopardy but would have some leeway. In the event Sri Lanka were never in the hunt, and Australia recorded a very comfortable win.

A SECOND UPSET

I was at work yesterday, so missed most of the match between The Netherlands and South Africa. The match was reduced by rain to 43 overs a side, and by the time I got back the Netherlands had amassed 245 from their allocation and had South Africa in considerable trouble at 133-6, needing 113 from 13 overs. The one hope for South Africa was that David ‘Killer’ Miller was still there. When he was out with the score at 147 the only remaining question was what the margin would be when the Dutch completed a victory that would be an even more king sized upset than Afghanistan’s over England. In the event, while never making anything approaching a serious assault on the target the South African tail provided stern resistance, with Keshav Maharaj leading a charmed life to score the luckiest 40 anyone could ever witness, and the final margin was 38 runs, which decidedly flattered the proteas. There was an added piquancy for a number of members of the Dutch XI – they had been born in South Africa and moved to their ancestral homeland after not making the grade in the land of their birth. They would have been even more overjoyed than their team mates to have bloodied South Africa’s nose in this manner.

AFGHANISTAN v NEW ZEALAND SO FAR

Afghanistan are back in action today, against New Zealand. In spite of the fact that their great win over England had come by means of batting first, posting a total and defending it they made a very questionable decision to field first when they won the toss today, possibly allowing worries over evening dew to influence the decision. They didn’t bowl all that badly, but their fielding would have shamed the Rain Men – five catches went down, none of them hugely difficult and at least two downright easy. New Zealand ended their 50 overs with 288-6 from their 50 overs, which was a lot more than they should have got. Afghanistan lost both openers cheaply, and nothing else that has happened in the opening ten overs of their innings, which have just ended (with three straight maidens) with their score 28-2, needing 261 off the last 40 at 6.525 per over. Rahmat Shah has just scored his first runs, a two and a one, from his ninth and tenth balls, while Hashmatullah Shahidi is on 1 off 17 balls.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

India v Pakistan

A look at today’s fixture in the ODI Cricket World Cup – a small matter of India v Pakistan. Also a photo gallery – though the temperature is more October like today than it has been for the previous 12 days of the month the sun has been out, making walking pleasant.

Today’s match in the ODI Cricket World Cup is the biggest clash of the group stage – bitter rivals India and Pakistan are in opposition. These two sides rarely meet outside tournaments because of the strained relations between the two countries. This post looks at the match that is currently in progress.

PAKISTAN MAKE A GOOD START…

India won the toss and put Pakistan in to bat. Pakistan looked to be going very well for much of their innings. Both openers got going but then got out (Abdullah Shafique for 20, Imam-ul-Haq for 38). However Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan looked like setting Pakistan up for a very respectable total, pushing the score up to 155-2.

…THEN COLLAPSE

The Pakistan innings unravelled spectacularly from this point – Babar Azam was out for exactly 50, Saud Shakeel failed outright (these two falling in the space of four balls from Kuldeep Yadav, the left arm wrist spinner), then Rohit Sharma cashed in on this double strike by calling Jasprit Bumrah back into the attack at the other end. Bumrah clean bowled Rizwan for 49 and Pakistan were five down. Both the two new batters failed cheaply, one to Jadeja and one to Bumrah (Yadav had completed his 10 overs, with superb figures of 2-35), and Pakistan were suddenly 171-7. The eighth wicket pair cobbled together a stand of 16, at which point Score Predictor had Pakistan somehow mustering a final total of 237, which looked very optimistic indeed. It soon looked like a fantasy land prediction, as both batters were out with the score on 187, and with 9.5 overs to go Pakistan had numbers 10 and 11, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf batting together. They advanced the score by four runs before Rauf was pinned LBW. From 155-2 at high water mark Pakistan had surrendered their last eight wickets for just 36 runs. While the failure of the middle and lower order batters was shocking the real problems had actually happened earlier – three of the top four had topped 30, but none went on to play the sort of major innings around which a respectable total can be built. Rizwan took 69 balls to accrue his 49 runs, a rate of progress that can only be justified if you do actually bat all the way to the end of the innings AND you considerably increase your rate of scoring in the late part of the innings.

INDIA IN TOTAL CONTROL

Pakistan’s only hope after posting such a poor score themselves was to start fast with the ball, with early wickets being imperative. In the event it was India who got away to a flier, and their tempo has never slackened. Rohit Sharma followed his astute captaincy with a batting masterclass that had commentators speculating on him reaching a century before the end. That was not to be, as he was caught by Iftikhar Ahmed off Shaheen Shah Afridi for a superb 86, but as I type these words India are 161-3 after 23 overs, needing a mere 31 with 27 possible overs remaining.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Today’s photo gallery is not as large as some of mine, but I think it is good one…

While I have been preparing this for publication India have moved on to 168-3 after 26 overs – 24 needed off a possible 24 overs.

ODI World Cup Thursday and Friday

A look at recent developments in the ODI cricket world cup, and a very large photo gallery.

In this post I will look briefly at events yesterday, which all took place while I was at work and in today’s match between New Zealand and Bangladesh.

AUSTRALIA IN TROUBLE

Yesterday in the world cup Australia took on South Africa. I did not catch any of the match as Australia were so inept that it finished before I was home from work, with the proteas victorious by a thumping 124 runs. At the moment, with New Zealand and Bangladesh in action today every team has played two group matches, and Australia lie second from bottom having lost both of their matches and having a ghastly net run rate of -1.846. This effectively means that they need to win six of their last seven group matches to qualify, as their poor net run rate means that five wins and four losses will not be good enough for them to qualify. Four teams have won two out of two, South Africa, New Zealand, India and Pakistan and two others, England and Bangladesh have won one and lost one, while the other four, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Australia and Afghanistan have lost both their matches.

BANGLADESH v NEW ZEALAND

A West Norfolk Autism Group committee meeting meant that I missed the whole Bangladesh innings. They managed 246 from their 50 over, which would not normally be expected to be a winning total. However Bangladesh are faring quite well in the field – New Zealand are 101-2 in the 22nd over. Bangladesh used to be over reliant on spin, but they have finally got some decent pace bowlers – in this match they have three specialists in that department, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam and Taskin Ahmed, the last named being the quickest of the trio. Both the spinners in the XI, Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz are genuine all rounders.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

While I have been preparing this for publication New Zealand have advanced to 123-2 after 25 overs, meaning that they are precisely halfway to the target after precisely half of their overs.

India Poised For Big Win Over Afghanistan

A look at recent developments in the 2023 ODI Cricket world cup, with emphasis on today’s match, between Afghanistan and India. Also a large photo gallery – even when grey as it is today this October has been much warmer than is normal for an English October.

Yesterday was a work day, so I did not get to follow much of the action in the two cricket world cup matches that took place – I got some but not all of England’s innings against Bangladesh and the last few overs of Pakistan v Sri Lanka, with the latter completing the largest successful run chase in World Cup history with just under two overs and six wickets to spare. Today India are playing Afghanistan and the rest of the post is about that match.

THE AFGHANISTAN INNINGS

Afghanistan won the toss and have chosen to bat, and in spite of the likely outcome of this match I think they made the correct decision. I also reckon that their score of 272-8 from their 50 overs to be an important one, not because it was enough on a pitch as good for batting as this one, but because it was an undeniably respectable total against top tier opposition and crucially it was made in spite of the fact that both of Afghanistan’s biggest batting guns, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, failed to fire. The major contributions came from Hashmatullah Shahidi (80) and Azmatullah Omarzai (62), who shared a century stand together for the fourth wicket. Most of the Indian bowlers did respectably, with the exception of Mohammad Siraj who bowled seven overs for 55 runs. Jasprit Bumrah was the most impressive by a long way, finishing with 4-39 on a track offering no bowler the slightest hint of assistance.

INDIA’S REPLY

The big story of India’s innings so far has been Rohit Sharma. The Indian opener has been rewriting the record books – most sixes in international cricket across formats, overhauling Chris Gayle’s 553, most runs out of a team’s first 100 in a world cup match – 76, fastest world cup century by an Indian. He has been dismissed, for 131 off 84 balls, bowled by Rashid Khan, but the outcome of the match is as good as settled – India are 231-2 in the 29th over, needing just 42 more to win. India will be giving an already good net run rate a boost.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have a splendid photo gallery to share with you…

While I have been prepping this post for publication India have advanced to 255-2 from 33 overs, needing a mere 18 more to complete their victory.

New Zealand Poised For A Second Big Win Of The Tournament

This post looks in the main at developments in today’s ODI Cricket World Cup match between The Netherlands and New Zealand. However just to tie up the loose ends of yesterday’s post, my unequivocal and unambiguous statement that due to the small size of the total they were chasing India were still favourites to win even after losing three very early wickets was borne out by the final stages of the match. Kohli and Rahul took India to the brink of victory before Kohli was caught for a fine 85. Hardik Pandya struck a six, which roused Rahul to new levels of aggression, and it was ultimately India’s batter-keeper who made the winning hit, a six over cover which took him to 97*. The margin was six wickets and 8.4 overs to spare, which gives India a healthy net run rate of 0.883 (this could be crucial later on, as if multiple teams finish the round robin stage on the same points tally net RR will be used as the tie-splitter. My reckoning based on the fact that four of ten teams qualify for the semi-final stage is that teams with a win-loss ratio of 6-3 or better will likely qualify without recourse to net RR and that it will be the teams with five wins and four defeats who get separated by net run rate. Thus my reckoning is that after yesterday Australia with their net RR having taking a big early hit need to win six of their remaining eight matches, while four more wins would probably see India qualify on net RR.

THE NETHERLANDS V NEW ZEALAND

I missed the early stages of this match due to an appointment with the hygienist at my dental practice. The Netherlands won the toss and foolishly went with their fears about dew making the ball difficult to grip and gave New Zealand the opportunity to make use of the best batting conditions of the match. For much of the New Zealand innings a 350+ total looked on, but a combination of tight Dutch bowling and a couple of quick wickets around the 40 over mark put that kind of total out of reach, and at one stage a total of under 300 seemed possible. Overs 48 and 49, which went for 17 and 12 respectively got New Zealand to 300. With one ball left in the innings New Zealand were on 309-7. Then Bas de Leede, who had bowled very well, and had figures of 1-51 had a horror finish that spoiled his fine spell: first he bowled a no-ball which was smashed for six, then the resultant free hit produced six more and the last ball of the innings had thus yielded 13 (12 for the two sixes, one for the no-ball). New Zealand had thus ended on 322-7.

The Netherlands have not made a good start to the reply. Currently they stand at 76-3 after 19 overs, meaning that required run rate is pushing eight an over. Unless something remarkable happens in the remaining 31 overs of this match New Zealand, who started this tournament by pummelling England in the opening fixture, will be extremely strongly placed, with two wins out of two and a very good net RR.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have a bumper gallery to share with you…

The sun heading for the horizon last night as I walked along the Gaywood River Path
Red on black meets black on red.

Match 5 of The 2023 ODI World Cup

At 9:30AM UK time the biggest match of the 2023 World Cup so far, hosts India against perennial high achievers Australia, got underway. This post tells the story of the match so far.

A POOR PERFORMANCE BY AUSTRALIA WITH THE BAT

Mitchell Marsh was out cheaply. A partnership between Smith and Warner seemed to be putting Australia on the road to recovery, but then Warner was out. Smith and Labuschagne took the score to 110, but Australia were scoring slowly. Smith’s dismissal at that score put a different complexion on matters. Not much later Labuschagne was caught behind, and in spite of the fact that his innings had been anything but a good one, he selfishly sent it upstairs, where it was duly confirmed as out, putting him deep in debit – a slow innings and then he compounded it by burning a review. A collapse set in, and Australia found themselves 140-7. The tail wagged somewhat, but Australia were all out for 199 after 49.3 overs. This confirmed a prediction that I had made tentatively at the end of the 34th over (Australia 134-5) and firmly at the end of the 36th (Australia 140-6) that they would not get to 200. The three spinners, Ashwin, Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav had taken 6-104 between them from their full 30 overs. Not a single Australian had any cause to be proud of the way they had batted, and at least one of their major batters, Labuschagne, should have been hanging his head in shame.

EARLY WICKETS FOR AUSTRALIA

I went out for a walk during the break between innings and slightly overran, missing the start of the Indian reply. Australia needed early wickets to have any chance, and they got them with Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer (numbers 1,2 and 4 in this Indian order) all going for ducks, at which point the score was 2-3. By the time I got back runs and wickets were the right way round for India, with the score reading 4-3. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are carrying out a rescue operation, and as I type this the score is 20-3 after seven overs. I still think that this match is India’s to lose – 200 is not a large total to have to get, and in addition to the pair currently batting Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin can all bat. I am glad to see a pitch on which bowlers are genuinely in the game.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (from walks yesterday afternoon and evening and this morning)…

While I have been preparing this for publication India have moved on to 27-3.